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The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas père

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What is the significance of the tablets in Chapter 28 of The Count of Monte Cristo?

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The tablets, actually mentioned in chapters 34 and 35, display details of those to be executed, which Franz uses to confirm details from a conversation he overheard. They reveal that Peppino, associated with Luigi Vampa, is to be executed. This confirmation intrigues Franz about Sinbad the Sailor, who is later revealed to be the Count of Monte Cristo. Chapter 28, "The Prison Register," involves Dantes, disguised, confirming his accusers by examining the prison records.

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The tablets are actually mentioned in chapters 34 and 35. The tablets are "hung up at the corners of streets the evening before an execution" and provide details as to the names and crimes of those persons who are to be executed. Franz asks Signor Pastrini to show him the tablets in case he feels "disposed" to go and watch any of the executions. Although the real reason he wants to see the tablets is to confirm the details of a conversation he overheard the night before.

When Signor Pastrini shows the tablets to Franz, the latter reads that the bandit "Peppino, otherwise called Rocca Priori," has been "convicted of being an accomplice of the atrocious . . . bandit, Luigi Vampa," and is to be "beheaded" the next day. This is the execution that Franz overheard two men talking about the evening before, "in the ruins of the Colosseum."...

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During the conversation one of those men pledged to buy Peppino's freedom with gold, in return for the eternal loyalty of the other man.

When the details of the conversation he overheard are confirmed by the tablets, Franz is able to confirm his suspicions as to the identities of the two men. He understands that one of the participants must have been Luigi Vampa, and that the other must have been the man he knows as Sinbad the Sailor, the wealthy philanthropist who he assumes is continuing to pursue "his philanthropic expedition in Rome, as he had already done at Porto-Vecchio and Tunis."

This confirmation, because of the tablets, increases Franz's curiosity about Sinbad the Sailor, which in turn increases his curiosity about the Count of Monte Cristo when he learns, at the end of chapter 34, that Sinbad and the Count are in fact one and the same person.

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Upon reexamining the text, I do not see any tablets or anything similar in chapter 28. Chapter 28 is titled "The Prison Register," and it details the events of an envoy (Edmond Dantes in disguise) coming and inquiring about Dantes's crimes and his appearance on the register.

During the event, the envoy inquires about Abbe Faria and Dantes, and he is told about the tunnel that the two had been digging. In their discussion, they talk about how Dantes "accelerate[d] his escape" by hiding in Abbe Faria's body bag after the man died—however, they speculate that Dantes wasn't expecting the body to be thrown into the sea.

They conclude that Dantes must have necessarily drowned (much to Dantes's pleasure), on the assumption that it would have been extremely unlikely that Dantes survived being thrown into the water in a body bag.

Additionally, the envoy is allowed to view the prison register, where he (covertly) views the evidence that was used to condemn Dantes. Thus, the disguised Dantes is able to discern, beyond any doubt, the men who falsely accused him.

There is no mention of tablets or anything similar in the text—unless the registry itself is what was implied in the question.

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